ArchiNews | Interview

“The big challenge is to make Architecture be a binder capable of being present and remaining in increasingly rapid and unpredictable changes, capable of maintaining Man’s relationship with the surroundings, with other Men…” Topos Atelier (Jean Pierre Porcher / Margarida Oliveira), ArchiNews ed#41

“The biggest problem in Portugal is not the school. In our country, the biggest problem for architects is Portugal… And the Portuguese way of thinking and the way they look at architecture… (…) Knowledge of Architecture and Intelligence about the world may be the answer…” Jorge Mealha, ArchiNews ed#39

“The development of the project, to a certain extent, means a kind of liberation from the constraint of the program, without ever betraying or abandoning it, but attaining another plan in which the goal, in essence, is Beauty… (…) No architect starts with the idea that he is going to write a poem. (…) There […]

“I believe that the architect must defend his ideas, but he has to give in on what concerns the ultimate goal. Being able to offer a space where the customer feels comfortable. If we do not listen to the people that will use the space, to what they want, we will certainly have more difficulties […]

“It is important to give the people tools so that they can develop their work, namely drawing, but there is an especially difficult thing that is teaching people how to think… The important thing is to know how to question… Without effort we are not going anywhere. This facilitation, of having unlimited access to information, […]

“Today people have the idea that good architecture is spectacular architecture. The more complex from the formal point of view, the better. This is perfectly stupid. It seems that we have entered a new period of perfectly fool monumentalism…” Victor Neves, Archinews ed#35

“Because it summons arts and science, architecture is in a border area. Architecture projects are a result of this intersection of opposites, this synthesis of accuracy and rigour, ambiguity and clarity. When there is knowledge exchange, the end result is always richer” João Mendes Ribeiro, Archinews ed#34

“Our ability to add value and savings over the life cycle of the building is much more important than the amount of our fees. When a client asks for Norman Foster and pays him 10 per cent, they know that the return on investment for those fees that they paid him will be whoknows-how-big. An […]

“We have to live in our time while respecting our identity (…) The difficult task of architecture is to bring to our time not the past forms, the eaves, the decorated chimneys, the blue bands decorating houses… but a record to find other ways to preserve memories” Mário Martins, Archinews ed#32

“Economic conditions resolve and filter a lot. There is no more money to daydreams, and casting errors. I am convinced that will be return to the values of discipline. And that has to be done by everyone, by universities, centers of knowledge, for architectural criticism…” Adalberto Dias, Archinews ed#31

“There is no place in the world where they see an advertisement and a small store of Delta Cafés. The same applies to the Amorim and the cork. Cristiano Ronaldo is everywhere. There is no journey that which does not appear in the small screen: to kick a ball, to announce a shampoo, or do […]

“Some schools continue to train students with the same attitude of the band on the Titanic. The ship is sinking and we continue to play as if everything was normal. In the past, the work of teachers come to the classroom. The project, the problem was the matter. There was a time a very direct […]